School of Social and Political Science

Background

Chiara is an anthropologist by training, working across environmental anthropology and feminist geography. She investigates the politics of chemical risk management in Colombia and the interplay between women’s reproductive health and processes of toxic environmental degradation. She conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork among gold mining and coca farming communities in Colombia and has a strong interest in participatory and creative methods. After studying for her BA at the University of Bologna (Italy), she obtained an MRes in Anthropology at University College London and an MSc in Environment and Development at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). She has been awarded a PhD in International Development from the  London School of Economics (LSE). Her thesis won the DSA PhD prize for 2025.

Selected publications:

Vélez-Torres I. and Chiavaroli C. (2025) Chapter 9 The Necropolitics of criminalisation in the Colombian War on Drugs. In Gutierriez J. and Gutierrez-Sanin F.,(eds) “Criminality, political power and conflict. Critical perspectives”. Manchester University Press. Social and Political Power Series
(In press)

Vélez-Torres I. and Chiavaroli C. (2025) Land, Gender and Labour in anti-narcotic policies. Voluntary substitution of illegal crops and gender inequalities in rural Colombia. Journal of Peasant Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2025.2475998 

Chiavaroli, C. (2024). The reproductive geography of miscarriages. Social identities, places, and reproductive inequalities. Social Science & Medicine, 360, 117351.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117351 

Chiavaroli, C. (2024). Gendering Toxic Contamination: Toxic Risks, Bodies, and Pregnancies in Gold Mining and Coca Farming Communities in the Bajo Cauca Region. Antipode https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.13051 

Chiavaroli, C. (2024). Exploring pregnancy mapping to understand toxic reproductive risks. Gender, Place and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2024.2433458

Mendoza, X., Chiavaroli C., Lopez Velez, O., Medina, L. J., (2024) Efectos de los conflictos por el extractivismo en el cuerpo territorio de las mujeres en el Bajo Cauca Antioqueño en Colombia. Land Deal Initiative. https://www.cinep.org.co/publi-files/PDFS/E20240610_Extractivismo_Colombia_Cauca_.pdf